1. Field of the Invention
Our present invention relates to restraining apparatus for use in restraining detainees such an prisoners in police custody or patients in medical facilities, and more particularly to restraining apparatus for restraining violent detainees who, if not suitably restrained, could seriously injure custodial personnel, such ago police officers and hospital emergency room personnel, and could also seriously damage public facilities such as the interiors of police patrol cars or ambulances, or the walls, fixtures and furnishings of police station houses, hospitals and the like.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The term "prior art" as used herein or in any statement made by or on behalf of applicants means only that any document or thing referred to as prior art bears, directly or inferentially, a date which in earlier than the effective filing date hereof.
The problem of suitably restraining violent detainees in police and medical facilities in well known and recognized in the prior art.
For example, it is well known in the law enforcement field that substantial injury to an arresting officer or officers and physical damage to Public property has resulted when a suspect being taken prisoner has resisted arrest. It has been well known for many years to restrain the hands and arms of a police prisoner by handcuffs or the like which connect the prisoner's hands together in front of or behind his or her body. However, although the legs of the prisoner are powerful weapons, especially when the prisoner is emotionally charged or under the influence of drugs or alcohol, no prior art restraining apparatus or system for violent detainees which has come into general use fully and effectively deals with the problem of protecting personnel and public property from injury or damage produced by kicking by violent detainees. Thus, there are many known cases in which an arresting officer has been kicked violently and seriously injured during the placement of a prisoner in a police patrol car, and also many documented cases wherein a police patrol car, cruiser or squad car, has been badly damaged by a prisoner's feet and legs while the prisoner in being transported to the station house or other detention facility. In certain cases, the entire partition between the police officer and the prisoner has been shattered, although most damage occurs to the doors, side panels and windows of the police patrol car.
In addition to the problem of serious injury to arresting officers and costly damage to public facilities, there is also the problem of the self-infliction by the prisoner of injuries such as bruises, abrasions and even open wounds in order to buttress false claims of police brutality.
In addition to addressing the two above described problems arising during the initial arrest, transportation and preliminary incarceration of violent detainees, our present invention also addresses the problem of "positional asphyxiation". The now well known term "positional asphyxiation refers to the fact, or well established belief, that certain prisoners in police custody have suffered asphyxiation with no separate assignable cause during restraint in a prone position, apparently due to post nasal drip or congenital or accidental malformation of the detainee's nasal passages, etc.
These problems result not only in serious injury to police officers and damage to public facilities, in addition to injury or even death of prisoners, but also result in Judicial charges of "police brutality", and may thus result in costly litigation and negative publicity.
Other apparatus and systems for restraining violent detainees are found in the prior art, although none of them as fully address all of the problems discussed above, as do the apparatus and systems of the present invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,728,553, issued to Jerry Daniels on Mar. 1, 1988, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,784,889, issued to Jerry Daniels on Nov. 15, 1986, both disclose systems for restraining the lower limbs of a prisoner being conveyed in a vehicle, such as a police patrol car, to preclude injury to persons and property by violent kicking action of the prisoner. Both of the patented systems of Daniels include the provision of a laminated fastening strap for encircling the upper legs of the prisoner. Each of the Daniels patents discloses tethering means for tethering said fastening strap to a particular part of a police car in which the prisoner is being transported.
In accordance with the teachings of the Daniels patents, however, the lower legs of the prisoner being transported are unrestrained, leaving the arresting officer and the patrol car in which the prisoner in transported vulnerable to injury and damage brought about by the kicking of the seated prisoners lower legs.
Further, neither Daniels patent discloses means for constraining the motion of the prisoner's torso, thus leaving the arresting officer subject to injury by violent motion of the prisoner's torso, notwithstanding the fact that the prisoner in handcuffed, with his hands behind his back. Additionally, the freedom of upper torso movement permitted by the systems of the Daniels patents makes it possible for the prisoner to inflict injuries upon himself, such as bruises, abrasions, and even open wounds, which Injuries can be calculatedly used to buttress later judicial charges of police brutality.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,852,587, issued to Mark Share on Aug. 1, 1969, discloses a device for subduing and then restraining a violent person comprising a relatively stiff, bendable shield having opposed major surfaces. One of the major surfaces, designated the back surface, has attached thereto at least two handles, at least one strap, and means for releasably fastening the strap to the back surface.
As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 of Share, the shield of Share extends substantially from the restrainee's chin to the restrainee's ankles, thus making it difficult if not impossible to bond the restrainee's body to a sitting position suitable for use in transporting the restrainee in a police patrol car.
Further, Share's shield Is "a relatively stiff bendable shield", which in unprovided with integral rigid members which prevent the flexing of the restrainee's legs.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,237,700, issued to Karl W. Bremer, Jr., on Dec. 9, 1980, discloses a prisoner leg restrainer which is attachable to one leg of a prisoner wearing a bolt. The leg restrainer of Bremer Includes first and second brace elements which are pivotably coupled together by a hinge. Straps are provided to couple the first and second brace elements to the leg of the prisoner. A locking mechanism automatically engages when the upper and lower sections of the leg restrainer are in vertical alignment to prevent pivotal movement of the prisoner's knee. The leg restrainer of Bremer, being attachable to only one leg of a prisoner, does nothing to protect the arresting officer or officers from being seriously injured by hostile movement of the prisoner's other leg.
In addition, in order to permit a prisoner wearing the leg restrainer of Bremer to assume a seated position, as in a police patrol car, a handle can be manipulated which permits the mutual unlocking of the upper and lower braces, thus "permitting unrestricted aft rotation or pivoting of the leg brace", whereby "the prisoner may flex his knee in a normal manner". Obviously, then, when a prisoner equipped with the device of Bremer is sitting in a police patrol car the device of Bremer does little if anything to protect the arresting officer from injury by the prisoner's legs, or to protect the interior of the patrol car from damage by the prisoner's legs.
It in believed that the documents listed in the Information Disclosure Statement filed herewith contain information which is or might be considered to be material to the examination of this patent application.